Moroccan Food

This past weekend we decided to cook Moroccan food. Liz wanted the chance to make one of her favorite dishes (lamb pancakes similar to the keema naan served in Indian restaurants). and Cory just wanted to try cooking something new. We decided on a beef tagine, and a salad with dates and oranges (we had dates left from last week's recipe). For appetizers, we made lamb pancakes, a carrot salad, and served some olives alongside. There is a bonus dessert this week - we didn't make it as part of the dinner, but it was something we wanted to try, so we made it last night. By the way, the blog title is deceptive this week - the dog got some of the carrots.

Appetizers:

Chopping and cooking carrots

Italian parsley, chopped


Mixing the salad; the final product


The yeast mixture; a sticky dough


Making the meat filling


The dough, risen


Shaping the pancakes


Preparing the pancakes


The finished lamb pancakes (one of Liz's favorites)


Olives and pickled peppers as accompaniments; the appetizer course

Salad:

Prepping the ingredients


The salad

Main Dish:


Beef for dinner


Browning the meat


Cooking the onions


Adding the spice mixture


Simmering the meat


Apples


Apples, cooked


The tagine, served with couscous

Dessert:


Toasting and grinding the almonds


Ingredients for the almond cream


The cornstarch mixture; boiling the milk


Mixing together the ingredients for the cream


Making the topping


Preparing the pastry


Frying the pastry


Creating the layers of cream and topping


Time for dessert!

Ratings by Liz and Cory (we rate things tough)

Spiced Carrot Salad: 3
It's not very good. Don't make it.

Lamb-filled Pancakes: 9
Liz rates them a 10, but Cory doesn't give 10s!

Orange and Date Salad: 8

Beef Tagine with Apples and Raisins: 8
Probably use rice instead of couscous next time

Crisp Pastry with Almond Cream: 7
Would be better with some fruit



The Recipes:

Lamb-filled pancakes

1 package active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 ¾ cups flour
1 cup lukewarm water, divided
1/2 tsp salt

Meat filling:
2 T butter
1 lb ground lamb (can substitute ground beef)
½ onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
(Add a little parsley if you have it)


Dissolve yeast in ½ cup lukewarm water and add sugar. Let stand 5 minutes. Mix 1 cup of the flour in a bowl with the salt. Add yeast mixture and remaining ½ cup water to the flour and stir together. Let stand 10 minutes or until bubbles form. Gradually stir in remaining flour and mix until a sticky dough is formed. Knead for about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Cover and let rise until doubled in size.

While the dough is rising, prepare the meat filling. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat and add the ground lamb. Stir until browned, crumbling with a spoon until the meat is crumbed into very fine pieces. Add the onion, garlic, salt, and spices and stir over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Drain the mixture (leaving a little of the juices in) and set aside to cool.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down and divide into about 12 pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a square about 1/8 inch thick. Put 2-3 Tbsp of the meat filling along the center and fold dough in thirds over the filling (fold like a letter). Roll out the pancake to about ¼ inch thick or a little thinner if possible. Be careful because there will be air bubbles that make the filling squirt out of the pancakes – wear an apron. Don’t worry if some of the filling shows through – those parts just get a little crispy when you cook them. Set aside until ready to cook. Repeat with remaining balls of dough and filling.

You have several options to cook these. You can bake on a greased baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes – they will get puffier and be more like filled breads. Or you can cook them in a frying pan or griddle – I like this way best. Oil the pan and fry the breads over medium heat like pancakes, turning once or twice until browned. You might cut the rectangles of dough in half with a knife into something approximating squares to make them easier to turn in the pan. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

Spiced Carrot Salad
(Note: Don't make this one. We didn't like it and you can probably find a better, more interesting carrot salad. It needs more heat, or flavor, or something.)

1 lb carrots, cut into sticks
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tbsp finely chopped Italian parsley
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tsp olive oil
pinch salt

Cook carrots in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and toss with remaining ingredients. Chill until ready to serve.


Orange and Date Salad

3 oranges (I used 2 oranges and 2 mandarins)
6 dates, pitted and thinly sliced
1/2 cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted
2 tbsp chopped mint

Cut off peel and pith from oranges. Cut out sections of orange over a bowl with a small sharp knife (just peel and slice the mandarins if using. You could do this for the oranges as well, it just won't be as pretty.) Mix oranges and orange juice that has collected in bowl with the remaining ingredients. Chill until ready to serve. This recipe makes 2-3 servings but can easily be doubled for a larger group - it would be good as a winter fruit salad.


Beef Tagine with Apples and Raisins
(Note: The original recipe seemed a bit salty so I have reduced the salt here. You may want to add more salt at the end to taste).

2 pounds beef chuck steak/roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp butter, divided
1 onion, sliced
1/8 tsp ground saffron threads
1/2 tsp ginger
11/2 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
4 cilantro sprigs
1/2 cup raisins
3 Tbsp honey, divided
2 tart apples, such as granny smith
Couscous or rice (preferably basmati), prepared according to package directions for 4 servings

Using a dutch oven, heat the olive oil and 2 Tbsp of the butter and brown the meat in batches. Remove beef from the pan and add onion. Cook for about five minutes to soften. add saffron, ginger, and 1 tsp of cinnamon and cook for about 1 minute or so. Add water, salt, pepper, and cilantro. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours, checking occasionally to ensure that liquid remains in the pan. After simmering, add raisins and 1 Tbsp of the honey, then cover and simmer on low for an additional 30 minutes or until meat is tender.

Meanwhile, wash the apples and remove the cores. Cut apples into eighths. Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan over medium heat, add the apples, and cook for about 10 minutes, turning apple slices frequently. Drizzle with remaining 2 Tbsp honey and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Cook for a few minutes more until apples are glazed and softened.

Transfer meat mixture to a serving dish. Pour sauce and top with apples. Serve with rice or couscous to soak up the sauce.


Keneffa - Crisp Pastry with Almond Cream
Note: This recipe uses wonton wrappers as a substitute for pastry. The original recipe has you stack two wrappers together with a little water to seal before frying, but this seemed to make them too thick and was a fussy method. That is what you see in the pictures but these directions omit that.

Almond Cream:

3 cups whole milk
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 Tbsp rosewater (optional)

Topping:

2/3 cup blanched almonds, lightly toasted and chopped
2 Tbsp confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

18 wonton wrappers
Oil for frying

To make the almond cream, mix cornstarch with 1/2 cup of the milk in a bowl until it becomes a thin paste. Bring remaining milk to a boil. Pour the boiling milk into the cornstarch mixture slowly, whisking as you add the milk. Pour back into the saucepan and add the sugar and ground almonds. Stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbling. Remove from heat, add almond extract and rosewater, and pour into a bowl. Cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool.

Make a topping by mixing the chopped almonds, confectioners sugar, and cinnamon and set aside.

Fry wonton wrappers in oil until crisp.

Layer wonton wrappers with almond cream and topping until 3-4 layers tall, ending with topping. Serve immediately.